ASK THE HEADHUNTER Should I accept a job offer with a salary cut?

[deanwebb]

Should I accept a job offer with a salary cut?

In the February 25, 2020 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter a reader asks whether it’s possible to recover after accepting a job offer with a salary cut. Question I've been unemployed for six weeks. Was earning around $120K. Have been offered a position at $85K and, quite frankly, I need the money. Even more important, I recognize that my self-esteem is too bound up in my career: I need to work for more than just the money. Am seriously considering accepting this lower offer, because I believe these folks cannot afford to pay more. Will my chances of negotiating another position

The post Should I accept a job offer with a salary cut? appeared first on Ask The Headhunter®.

Source: Should I accept a job offer with a salary cut?

[deanwebb]

^ good discussion starter. If you're desperate, yes, and then immediately start looking for your next, better-paying decision.

This person was out for 6 weeks, and that's really not enough time to get set up with a new job... but you could take this one as a stopgap and dump them without prior notice when going to the new job if you're in a state that's at-will employment. The 2 weeks is a courtesy thing, and do you have to be courteous to a firm that lowballs your value?

[Nerm]

Not sure how I feel about this one. $120k/year down to $85k/year is more than just a pay cut. That is a major lifestyle altering pay cut. A $5k or even $10k pay cut i could see as a stopgap, but a cut of 40% or more is massive.

[Otanx]

Right now he has a 100% pay cut. The saying about being easier to find a job when you already have one is true too. When I left the military it took forever to land a full time job. As soon as I did other companies started reaching out.

-Otanx

[dlots]

yeah, right now I don't think I could find a job that pays within $40K of what I make currently in 6 weeks as my skills aren't in huge demand (yet). 

[deanwebb]

Agree strongly that it's easier to get a job when you have a job and that a 40% cut is better than a 100% cut. Take the job, but be ready to bolt at a moment, quick sharp!